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The Professional Footballers Association have announced their shortlists for their
player of the year award. Extraordinarily, Patrick Vieira
has been left out of the main PFA award list, and Ashley Cole
out of the young player list (see Sporting Life).
Vieira has been immense again this year. He's cleaned up his
act discipline-wise after a couple of incidents that were blown out of proportion early in the season, and has been widely acclaimed as one of the best midfielders
in the world (if not the best). Witness the silly money
that's
various Italian clubs are being rumoured as prepared to spend.
As for Ashley Cole... Well, if breaking into the Arsenal first-team, keeping out a Brasilian international, and
also getting into the England first team, isn't enough
to even get on the shortlist for young player of the year,
it's hard to imagine what the criteria are. Shame on the PFA.
Thierry Henry is the only Arsenal player on the main list,
along with Sheringham Keane and Giggs from Man Utd, Ipswich striker Marcus Stewart, and Liverpool's Emile Heskey.
Heskey is also on the young players list, along with West Ham's Carrick & Cole, Wes Brown, Steve Gerrard, and Alan Smith.
Meanwhile Teddy Sheringham has won the football writers' player of the year poll. Vieira and Beckham (also left out of the PFA list) were runners-up.
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